Why a Customer Cannot Sign In to the Customer Portal
When a customer cannot sign in to the Customer portal, the sign-in page tells them why in one sentence, and almost every cause is fixed by the system administrator on the Customer sign-ins screen (menu, then Administration). Ask the customer for the exact message they see, then open their sign-in from the People tab.
What does "Access has not been granted for that sign-in" mean?
"Access has not been granted for that sign-in. The company has to switch it on." means Access granted is unticked on the customer's sign-in on the Customer sign-ins screen. Either somebody switched it off, or the customer used Forgot password, which switches access off until the office switches it back on.
Look at the customer's line on the People tab:
- Inactive — password was reset on a date: access is switched off and a password was reset on that date. Usually the customer used Forgot password, but the same line appears when somebody at your company set their password with Set their password while access was off, or switched access off after any reset. Confirm with the customer that they reset it themselves, and check why access is off, then open the sign-in, tick Access granted and press Save. They sign in with their new password.
- Access is switched off: somebody at your company switched it off on purpose. Check why before you tick Access granted again.
- Not registered — they have never set a password: Access granted was unticked when the sign-in was made, or later. The customer meets this sentence when they try Set your password. Tick Access granted and press Save, then ask them to try again.
The customer sees this sentence at Sign in only when their password is right; with a wrong password they are told the email and password were not accepted.
What does "There is a sign-in for that address but no password yet" mean?
"There is a sign-in for that address but no password yet. Choose Set your password first." means the customer has never chosen a password. Their line on the People tab of the Customer sign-ins screen reads Not registered — they have never set a password.
Tell the customer to choose Set your password on the Customer portal's sign-in page and enter the same address, their name and a password of at least eight characters. Or open their sign-in, set a password for them under Set their password, and tell them what it is.
If they are told "The company has not created a sign-in for that address yet. Ask them to add it.", there is no sign-in for the address they typed. Search for them on the People tab: they may be using a different address from the one you entered. Correct Email on their sign-in, or create one with Add someone.
If they are told "That address already has a password. Sign in, or use Forgot password.", they already have a password and should sign in with it.
What does "That email and password were not accepted" mean?
"That email and password were not accepted. Check them and try again." means the address or the password is wrong. The Customer portal gives the same answer for an address that has no sign-in at all, so that strangers cannot find out which addresses have one, and for a wrong password on a sign-in whose access is switched off.
Check on the Customer sign-ins screen that a sign-in exists for exactly the address the customer is typing. If it does, the customer can use Forgot password, which switches their access off until you switch it back on, or you can set a new password for them with Set their password and tell them what it is. Setting it yourself leaves Access granted exactly as it is. If access is on, they can sign in with the new password straight away. If access is switched off, they are still refused until you tick Access granted and press Save as well, so check why it was switched off first.
After each wrong password the Customer portal waits a little longer before it answers the next attempt for that address, from one second up to half a minute. If they are told "The server is busy signing people in; try again in a moment.", they tried again while that wait was still running, or while another attempt for the same address was being answered; waiting a little and trying once more is enough.
What does it mean when the message names the customer's address?
A message that names the customer's own email address and ends "The office has to correct it.", "The office has to narrow it." or "The office has to set which customer accounts this sign-in reaches." comes from the accounts, statuses or types set on their sign-in, not from their password. Open their sign-in on the Customer sign-ins screen and fix the part the message names:
- "No customers are linked to" the address: the customer filter is empty, which only happens on a sign-in brought over from the old web portal. Pick their accounts under Customers and press Save.
- "The customer list stored for" the address "cannot be run": the customer filter breaks one of the rules for filters. Open Advanced, correct it, and press Preview before Save.
- "The customer list stored for" the address "reaches" a number of accounts, "more than the 2,000 one sign-in may hold": the filter reaches too many accounts, often because Every customer was chosen. Narrow it.
- "The call types stored for" or "The call statuses stored for" the address, followed by "cannot be run" or "did not return call ids": the status or type filter is broken. Choose As the defaults, All of them or Choose instead, or correct the statement.
If the message appears for every customer who inherits the defaults, the fault is on the Defaults tab instead.
If the customer is told that your database, named by its server and database names, "did not answer", and other customers can sign in, a filter on their sign-in has passed the rules but SQL Server, the database software, refuses to run it, for example because it names a column your database does not have. Open their sign-in, open Advanced under Customers and press Preview: it shows SQL Server's own reason. A call status or call type filter written by hand can fail the same way, and has no Preview; choose As the defaults, All of them or Choose instead.
What does "That sign-in cannot be used here" mean?
"That sign-in cannot be used here. Ask the company to check it." on the Customer portal's sign-in page means the address belongs to one of the office logins the old web portal used for its own staff, not to a customer. On the People tab of the Customer sign-ins screen such a line carries a label with its old role, such as admin, and opening it shows a note that the row "cannot open the customer door". The customer sees this sentence only after typing the right password for that address, so they really are using the old office login.
Office staff now sign in to ABM Service with their ABM name, not through the Customer portal. If a customer really does need portal access with that address, delete the old office line (if it has never logged a call) and create a new sign-in for them with Add someone.
Why does a customer see "No customer account is linked to this sign-in"?
A customer who gets past the Customer portal's sign-in page but is told "No customer account is linked to this sign-in; ask the company." has a sign-in that reaches no customer accounts. Either Pick the accounts was chosen on the Customer sign-ins screen and nothing was picked, or an SQL filter ran and found no accounts. ABM Service accepts both when you save, so the customer is the first to find out. Their password is fine and their access is on: only the accounts are missing, so nothing else on the portal is open to them until you link one.
Open their sign-in from the People tab of the Customer sign-ins screen, pick their accounts under Customers (or press Preview under Advanced to see what a filter reaches), and press Save. On the People tab, a sign-in with nothing picked reads No customer account.
The Customer portal's sign-in page can put the same thing as "No customer account is linked to this sign-in. Ask the company to link one." If instead the customer is told their customer list "cannot be run", the SQL filter on their sign-in breaks one of the rules for filters; if it "reaches" more than 2,000 accounts, it is too wide. In both cases open Advanced under Customers on their sign-in, correct or narrow the filter, press Preview to check what it reaches, and press Save.